Women in Sports Departments

I look forward to the day when we can dislike someone or declare said person incompetent and no one will instantly blame the subject's gender, race, religious preference or orientation.

Sadly, as we can tell by this thread, we are a long way from that happening.

I've worked with terrific editors and writers who were female, and I've worked for some that I detested. I was lucky to be brought up in an atmosphere that was far from the boys club or the pick-some-race-to-put-here hall of exclusivity.

I did work with one scumbag who was homosexual. I can't prove it because I wasn't privy to the convos, but I'm convinced he and the SE were trying to paint me as homophobic because the guy told the SE that he was scared of me. Those who have met me will, of course, tell you I try to bully, intimidate and frighten everyone around me.

This went on for two years. I don't care for either of them and their double-teaming BS, but of course it's not because they weren't terrible people with serious issues.

 

I wouldn't want to date a female sports writer, what with her going into locker rooms full of naked men in better shape than me and always having that male-female flirting undercurrent to deal with.

Then again, I wouldn't want to date a male sports writer, either, so I guess I'm a live-and-let-live type after all.

;D

 

OK, with the Celtics/Lakers game over, I'm going to crawl out of my hole, peek over the edge, and ask -- again -- what made her so great?

What were her strengths, what impressed you, what'd you like, and what were the things that separated her from any, or all, of the other bosses?

I do realize that some things may also apply to men. But this thread was started in the context of women, simply because I thought I had perceived what I considered to be an inordinate amount of complaints/bad experiences with them being recited on this board for the relatively few women (as compared to men) in the business.

Read some of the threads recently, and tell me, honestly, that you don't see the same thing, and maybe, wonder, 'Why is that?' and 'Is there anything to do about it?'

 

Out of curiosity, why use the word "homosexual" instead of gay?

 

And why not asshole or jackoff instead?[/georgecarlin]

 

OK, I just killed some time going through the "worst hire" thread. Excluding the "me" answers and those where a gender-specific pronoun was not used, there were 31 stories about men and 12 stories about women.

 

I've never had a female worker in my department and up until about six months ago, my current department was ALWAYS all white males. I don't do the hiring, by the way.

However, I've been around long enough to know the sports journalist community in my state/region fairly well (completely off the subject, but the dynamic of that community has completely changed for one reason: Gannett) and there are plenty of female colleagues. There are a couple in my state who I can think of who get the utmost respect from their peers. I don't think either are particularly gifted writers, but I do get the impression that they are both workhorses for their shop and torchbearers for our state association.

And then there are others in the state who, if you gather a group of the male writers around the gossip wall, are generally portrayed as having their jobs only because their gender. I sense more animosity toward some female writers than I do toward writers who are just incompetent.

I don't know enough to form an opinion on all the individuals in question. I just find it interesting that some of these men have a ton of respect for one woman in their field, but have a certain amount of disdain or just a lack of respect for another at least in part because of her gender.

 

You do pretty good research for a chick.

 

If one term is preferred over another, that's fine. If "gay" is the preferred term, it should be honored.

 

Funny only in the sense of imagining steam literally coming out of Cadet's ears.

 

Nah, I can appreciate a joke when I read one.

Just wanted to dispel the myth that WT is trying to perpetuate about hordes of stories of evil female coworkers and managers floating around here.

The board can have its misogynistic moments, for sure. And it's certainly got its share of insecure men. But it ebbs and flows, and overall this isn't a bad place, even for a chick.

 

I'm just impressed you can hang in to put in so many quote functions at one time. Any more than one, and I'm gassed.